Spring
by Oni no Miko
Summary: Its been four years, she's finally remembered. Now she's back, and theirs trouble. www.geocities.com/ichigosfanfiction R&R please!!!


"Spring"  
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the title, character design, or characters of this movie. It is a fantastic peice of art, and as a mere child, it would be foolish of me to think I could think of something equally as great. The characters belong to Miyazaki-san, no matter how much I wish I owned Haku (and/or his english VA!), it just isnt going to happen!   
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From the FAQ of www.nausicaa.net  
  
Does Chihiro remember anything?   
  
According to Miyazaki-San, Chihiro doesn't remember what happened in another world, but it was not a dream. Something really happened. To show the audience that something really happened, he gave several hints, such as dust and leaves on the car. Chihiro's hairband (given by Zeniba) glittering was also one of the hints. It is also to remind the audience what Zeniba said, "You don't forget what happened. You just can't recall it." The last line spoken by Chihiro in the English dub is not present in the Japanese dub.   
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"The White Rose"  
The red rose whispers of passion,  
And the white rose breathes of love.   
Oh, the red rose is a falcon,   
And the white rose is a dove.  
But I send you a cream-white rosebud,   
With a flush on its petal tips;   
For the love that is purest and sweetest  
Has a kiss of desire on the lips.  
-John Boyle O' Reilly  
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[Four years after] [Chihiro: Age: 14]  
  
The dogs rolled around in the mud, the secret whispers tossed in the air. Halo, the sun. Spirit, the moon.   
  
The light rolled across the desk, spilling onto the floor, "Noon..."  
  
It crept across the darkened floor, caressing its shine. One lonesome sparkle, eerie, yet serene. "Spring..."  
  
The sparkle lept into the air, "It's been awhile...  
  
She held the hair tie in her palm, sunlight cascading upon it, creating a multitude of lights. "I miss him... but I don't know who..."  
  
With encouragement and assistance, it made its way from her hand and found it to be wrapped around her hair. The whispy stands, stroaked away from her dreary face, tied back into its place. Sunlight filled the eyes of the child as she looked up and out her window. "Where's my place?"  
  
Cartwheels, tumbles, handstands, pools. Pets, swings, slides, and plants. Then her. She eyed the other children, washing their dog, swimming in the pool, skipping rope, teasing and taunting. She looked down, her desk, then out the window, home.  
  
She stood up and looked over at her bed, her favorite white shirt and red shorts. She placed her hand at the top of her pony tail as she gasped, "I remember..."  
  
Memories flooded back into her mind, "Sen, Haku, Yu-Baaba, Kamajii, Rin, Bou*, Kaonashi**, Zeniiba..."  
  
As she remembered, she ran her hand down her legnthened mane, reaching the end as she finished reciting the names. "Haku..."  
  
She glanced down at her old clothing, tears slowly forming in her eyes. "They won't fit, I've grown quite a bunch I suppose."  
  
A full legnth mirror layed against the wall beside her. She looked deeply into her reflection. The red of her skirt, tangled in the light, quite flattering. Her yellow tanktop, pulled tight against her chest, the color of the sun. "Haku..."  
  
She pulled on a pair of her socks and walked to her door, resting her hand on the magical band in her hair, "My friends..."  
  
She wiped away the reminecint tear as it was born from her softened eye.  
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Sunlight and warmth spilled through the windows, a warm breeze startling her hair, a breath on her neck. She gasped and spun around. Silence. "Haku...?"  
  
Her voice no more than a whisper, her longing for life locked away in the deep crevice of her heart. She continued her voyage downstairs, slowly, hesitantly. The stairs creaked under her careful steps, daring her to take another. She was feeling uneasy, although, unsure why. Afterall, it was just another boring summer day, her parents at work untill late, herself all alone in the house. The sunlight followed her as she stepped onto the last step, the warmed tiles on the floor comforting. Her head popped out from the darkened staircase and she looked towards the slightly ajar front door.  
  
"What the...?" Tiny spots of soot were on the warm, orange tiles, and on her red sneakers.  
  
"Susuwatari***?" She stepped closer to inspect, in her small shoe, she found some dropped Kompeitou****. A puzzled look came onto her face as more memories came flooding back to her. She jumped up as she heard a squeek behind her, "W- whos there?"  
  
Meekly, she turned around. "Come out, I know you're there!" She tried to call out all of her courage, stepping towards the closet. "Please?"  
  
The small sqeak sounded again as the closet slid open. A small black pile crept out.  
  
"Susuwatari?" at hearing that, their little eyes opened and they crawled over to her, piling around her feet.  
  
A thousand little chirps all sounded at once, all of them trying to talk at the same time, "W-why are you all here?" she bent down and smiled, balancing on her toes.  
  
The black mass grew silent and one little Susuwatari climbed onto her knee and chirped.   
  
She looked at it in confusion, "I dont understand you..."  
  
The rest of the Susuwatari tried to push her towards the cracked front door. She turned and looked toward the door then stood up, shaking the Susuwatari away from her. Chihiro stepped towards the door and pulled it open a bit further, peeking out. As the door creaked open, the Susuwatari popped out from the small crack. She got the idea and bent down, silding her foot into her shoe and pulling it up over her heel, then pulling on the other, tapping her toe twice on the ground as she stood up.  
  
"Should I follow you?" She pulled the door open further, the small pile of Susuwatari, spilling out into the warm porch of the pale blue house. She peeked her head out, looking around for anybody. The Susuwatari krept down off the sun stained porch and crawled down the abandoned street. Chihiro looked around in amazement, she had never seen her neighborhood so silent. The children skipping rope, no longer there. The dog chasing the little girl with the chocolate, gone. She pulled up the strap of her smiling yellow tanktop, as she steped quietly apon the pavement, following the little cluster of Susuwatari. The pure awe of it all, showed plainly upon her mystified face.  
  
"W- where are you taking me?" Her gaze remained apon the melancholy silence, as she asked them her question meekly.  
  
The Susuwatari, the obvious lone leader of their party, chirped in response, still creeping forward on its long, lanky legs.  
  
"Er..." Chihiro sweatdroped as she realized she couldnt understand them, but she figured she would soon find out where she was going.  
  
She followed the Susuwatari down a wide road that she never noticed before, a tall brick building on one side of it, and a small, white fence on the other. The cement sidewalk was covered in chalk scribblings, the grass was spotted with dandylions and tulips. Chihiro and her misfit gang of soot balls, crawled onto the sidewalk, making fast time much to her surprise, if she would have noticed. Lost deep in her thoughts, she neglected to notice the darkness, quickly dominating the sunlight, and the chinese lanterns hanging above her head, lighting the wide passing way below her very feet. Her eyes wandered across the sidewalk below her, the remains of hop scotch boards, tic-tac-toe, sketches of weird looking creatures, creatures that she could only imagine seeing in one place. She gasped and looked up as she remembered that place, the place that she was forced to burry deep into her throbbing heart.  
  
The light spilled into her eyes as she stopped dead in her step, "H- here? Is this where you were leading me?" She asked the impatient Susuwatari chirping around her feet.  
  
The confused girl took that as a yes and gingerly took a small step forward, looking up at large bath house in front of her tearing brown eyes.  
  
"Aburaya?" She asked, excitement thick in her voice.  
  
"Is everything alright here?" She quickly asked the Susuwatari, balling around her feet again, "Is Haku still here?"  
  
The leader of the gang of Susuwatari, stood infront of her and chirped loudly before it turned and started to walk, hoping that she would get the idea and follow.  
  
Chihiro watched the lone Susuwatari walk off, the rest of the Susuwatari chirping around her feet, gradually walking off to join their leader. Chihiro gasped as she realized she had fallen behind. She ran to catch up with them, her arms swinging by her sides, yelling out apologies to them for being slow. "Gomen nasai!"  
  
Without delay, she caught up to the scraggley group, just realizing how fast they were traveling. The Susuwatari stopped at the small door in the gate and chirped at Chihiro to open it.   
  
More memories flooded into Chihiros brain, "Through the gate, down the stairs, into the boiler room... Kamajii!"  
  
Chihiro smiled as she saw the leader of the Susuwatari stand on the other side of the door and wait for them all to pass through, she thought to herself, 'I'll call him Susuwatari-san!'  
  
Susuwatari-san waited untill Chihiro had crawled through the door, then watched cautiously as she tugged the door shut. Chihiro wondered why their were no guests waiting to use the bath house, or come to think of it, anybody there to greet the guests. Susuwatari-san ran in front of Chihiro and the puddle of Susuwatari rolled down the stairs, waiting at the bottom for Chihiro, who was clinging onto the wall and carefully climbing down the stairs.  
  
"These aren't as bad as I remember." she said as she let go of the wall and tried one step without holding on. "So far so good!" She told herself in approval as she tried another step, but to her dismay, it snapped under her foot. She stepped down to avoid falling, only causing her to fly down the stairs with her arms out behind her head, screaming as she ran out of control down the steep stairs, finally coming to a stop as she ran straight into a concrete wall.  
  
Chihiro winced as she peeled herself from the wall and rubbed her nose, "That seemed familiar..." she muttered under her breath. She could have sworn she heard the Susuwatari wince with her, then chuckle at her clumsyness. Chihiro shook her head, quickly regaining her senses. The Susuwatari chirped at her to open the heavy door to the boiler room, as soon as she undid the lock and pulled it open, she was blasted in the face by a thick wall of steam.  
  
"Hey!" She yelled out into the hot mist, coughing and stepping into the room, most of the scalding steam quickly seeping out of the open doorway.  
  
"Kamajii?" She crept in on her tiptoes, the Susuwatari now standing meekly behind her, lurking in her shadow, only blinking eyes visible.  
  
She peeked her head around the corner and smiled as she saw the old man at work, one of his arms reached up and grabbed a handful of what looked like green beans, before he placed it into his narrow bowl, pushing and pulling his grinding stone over the green mush.  
  
The small crowd of Susuwatari quickley jumped into their 'pit', and ran into the dark holes, joining the others and grabbing the large chunks of coal. Kamajii stopped his grinding and looked over at Chihiro, his glasses reflecting the light of the fire.  
  
"Sen?" He asked her curiously, one of his arms going over to her and patting her head, a smile painted on his face, disguised by his thick mustache.  
  
Chihiro smiled widely, "Its Chihiro! Thats my real name, I don't work for Yu-Baaba anymore, so I can use my real name!"  
  
Kamajii, the old boiler man, smiled and nodded at her, one bath token falling from the chute infront of him. "Aha!" The old man explained as he looked at the token, "This is the first token I've gotten today!" Kamajii quickley grabbed his tools from the drawers lining the walls, crushing them all in his bowl. He then pushed the mixture out of the bowl and tugged the token, signaling that the water was ready.  
  
Chihiro nodded, "yea, their was nobody outside when I arrived, nobody out to greet either... is their something wrong?" She watched the Susuwatari crawling around with the heavy coal, still tossing it into the fire, even though their was no need for the hot water.  
  
"Hmm... Not that I know of! But I'm also the one stuck in this hell all the time." The old man with multiple arms nodded sagely. He glanced over at the bovine Susuwatari, "I didn't tell you to slow down! You little soot balls... Do you want me to turn you into soot again?!" Kamajii yelled at the small black balls with the large blinking white eyes, with renewed vigor.  
  
Chihiro muffled a giggle, and gasped, prepared to run and hide, as the small door on the wall, slid open. A young woman emerged, clad in a salmon-red uniform, her pants tied up around her knees, and her sleeves tied back with a white sash. She was carring a large bath house bucket, filled with food for both Susuwatari and Kamajii.  
  
"Rin!" Chihiro smiled widely and ran over to the older girl, jumping up and hugging her tightly around her neck.  
  
"Ahhh!!!" Rin yelled, not sure who, or what, was clinging onto her body.  
  
Chihiro giggled and let go of her neck, falling down onto her feet. Her smile spread from ear to ear, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Rin! It's me! Chihiro! You know, Sen!"  
  
Rin looked at the young girl in amazement, slightly tilting her head in amazement. "Really? Geeze girl! You really grew up didn't you?!" Rin smiled just as widely and bent down slightly, hugging the shorter girl tightly before letting her go and looking her in the eyes, "but hey... You're real name is Chihiro?" She asked in curiousity.  
  
"Hai hai!" Chihiro wiped a budding tear from the corner of her eye, more happy than she could ever imagine.  
  
"Oh hey now... Don't cry!" Rin smiled and hugged the girl again tightly, kissing her forhead and trying to fight back her own tears of joy.  
  
Kamajii just sat back in his chair and smiled warmly at the two girls. Then his glance turned to the pile of Susuwatari, gathered at the edge of their 'pit'. "Hey now you stupid soot balls! Get back to work! No slacking!"  
  
Rin and Chihiro, still caught in a tight embrace, both simultaniously looked over at Kamajii and laughed.  
  
Rin then let go of Chihiro and went over to Kamajii with her bucket, taking his old bowls and handing him a new bowl of rice and a small plate of sushi.  
  
"Ok you stupid soot balls! Take a break! It's feeding time!" Kamajii informed the Susuwatari with his regular yell.  
  
While Rin took care of Kamajii, Chihiro grabbed the bucket of kompeitou and tossed it into the growing crowd of Suswatari. The colorful, star shaped food, quickley being picked up by the small hands of the soot balls. Chihiro giggled and gave 2 kompeitou to a smaller soot ball, all of the bigger Susuwatari had taken all of its food. The small Suswatari chirped a thank you and quikly ate her food before it could be stolen. Chihiro put the empty bucket down next to the door, only to be pulled into Rin with another tight hug.  
  
"I can't believe you came back! How did you remember? How did you get here?!" Rin frantically asked her, overflowing with excitement.  
  
Chihiro blinked and then smiled widely, "I put the hair band in my hair this morning, the one that Zeniiba, Bou, and Kaonashi made for me, and all of a sudden, I just remembered everything! Then, I went downstairs, and I found some Susuwatari in my closet! So I followed them here!" Chihiro took a big breath and smiled before Rin pulled her into a hug again.  
  
Just as Rin hugged Chihiro again, the small wooden door flew open, and out came a frantic Aogaeru*****. "Rin! Rin!" He hopped into the room and spotted Rin, with the young Chihiro squished against her body.   
  
Aogaeru blinked as he saw Chihiro, "The human! She's back!" He went to go run off and tell Yu-Baaba, but Rin quickley let go of Chihiro and grabbed Aogaeru by his foot, holding him upside down in the air.  
  
"Not a word of this to Yu-Baaba, kay?" Rin said threatened the small frog.  
  
Aogaeru nodded.  
  
"Now what was it you came in here looking for me for?" Rin slid shut the door and put the frog down.  
  
"Yu-Baaba wants everybody to go into the waiting hall! She said it was urgent!" Aogaeru repeated to them, a sense of extreme urgency in his voice.  
  
"Any idea why?" Rin asked him calmly.  
  
"No idea!" Aogaeru said as he hopped to the door and slid it open, going to join the others.   
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*Bou - The giant baby, I wasn't sure if he was given a name in the dubbed version.  
**Kaonashi - Japanese name for No Face.  
***Susuwatari - The soot balls.  
****Kompeitou - The small star shaped food the soot balls eat.  
*****Aogaeru - The frog. 


End file.
